Language Difficulties
by Glastea
Summary: New school, new house, new language. How can you cope when the only person who can understand you would rather be at home with his laptop?
1. Of Laptops and New Kids

**Language Difficulties**

A/N- Kon'nichiwa! Just here to tell you that –insert standard disclaimer here- and that Aurelie is mine, and no one else's, so nurgh. Also, all languages that I use apart from English should be correct, but if there is something wrong, feel free to tell me. Reviews are valued, if you would be so kind, but if not, never mind. Flaming will be taken with a pinch of salt, and it will be the flamer's behind which will be used to put out the fire.

Kapeesh? On with the story!

Aurelie took a deep breath, and stared at the door in front of her. Normally, she wouldn't have been so hesitant, but since this was a new school, and she had no idea of what was going to happen, she couldn't help it. Reassuring herself that everything would be fine, she knocked on the door, and was beckoned inside.

The adult standing at the front of the room was onto her like a hawk.

"Why were you sent here? What's your name?" Aurelie relaxed. They were talking a language she understood- this must be an English lesson. She opened her mouth to reply, but instead of talking in the language she had intended, possibly due to nerves, it came out in French.

"Je m'appelle Aurelie Chiasson, et Monsieur Takahashi envoyé moi." Even as the words came out, she realised what she had done, but didn't have the confidence to talk again. She stood like a lemon until someone at the back of the class sighed, and looked up from whatever he had balanced on his knees.

"She said that Mr Takahashi sent her. Her name's Aurelie Chiasson." Without another word, he directed his attention back to its previous distraction, and everyone else in the class began to examine the new girl with interest. She was, well, different. Her long brown hair was slung in a loose ponytail, and a thick fringe was covering half her features, completely obscuring them from view.. The part of her face you could see was pale, but it was her one visible eye that captivated them all- a deep sea green. Jounouchi muttered something to Yugi, who giggled, but then began to cry as the teacher gave him an after school detention.

"Oh, you must be the new girl that he was talking about. My name is Miss Yoroshiro, and I'll be your English teacher. If you could just take the spare seat next to Mr. Kaiba- he's the boy in the corner, _who's obviously not paying attention and is working on his laptop again._" Savagely finishing a tally on a piece of paper, the teacher physically steered Aurelie to her seat and relieved her partner of his technology.

Aurelie was staying as far away from the boy as she could, as he obviously had no desire to be there, and he was quite frankly scary. She wasn't really surprised when he muttered something to the teacher's retreating back.

"Scheizer kopf." However, he obviously thought that no one could understand him, so Aurelie decided to show off a bit.

"C'etait impoli."

"Parlez-vous Allemand?" The teenager was incredulous, and turned to face her.

"Oui, stupide." Aurelie turned to face him, and judging by the look on his face, he hadn't taken that well.

"Comme langues faitez-vous parle?" Kaiba was obviously curious. This could be funny.

"Couramment? Francais, Anglais, Allemand, Espagnol, Italien, Russe, Norwégien, Islandais, Grec et Flamand. Et-toi?" Aurelie watched the look of shock register on his face, before he composed himself and answered.

"Japonais, Anglais, Allemand et Francais." He sounded almost ashamed of the fact. "Vous ne parlez pas Japonais?"

"Non, mais je vex apprendre." Aurelie had never learnt Japanese, as she never thought she'd need it. She'd probably never use half the languages she'd learnt, but her stepfather had insisted, due to friends out in the countries that didn't speak English. Or apparently didn't.

However, the rest of the class had just started a speaking activity, so the hushed French conversation became a normal volume English one.

"So, in general, you speak a load of crappy European languages, but not the one you need now. That's useful."

Aurelie was glad that they had established some kind of conversation that didn't involve her fringe. It was amazing how much the topic came up. "Yes, they are crappy. But when your stepfather has friends over the world who claim they don't speak English, I end up having to learn the language they use, and then stay there for a month. So being forced to learn it fluently is the only option I have." Aurelie couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice. She hated Douglas, her stepfather, with a passion.

"Well, if you don't speak Japanese, I think I can help you. Try this." If this worked out, Kaiba had a tester for a new product. Reaching into his bag, he drew out what looked like a blue tooth set, and handed it to Aurelie.

"A translator?"

"Yes, just set the controls and you're done. It's foolproof , until you learn Japanese."

Aurelie examined the earpiece more closely. It had two dials, each with four flags around it. She left the first one where it was and moved the second one to French- her first language. She hooked it around her ear without disturbing her fringe, and turned back to Kaiba

"Can we test it?"

"Hai. Kon'nichiwa, Aurelie-san. Watashi wa namae Kaiba Seto desu."

However, Aurelie heard, "Bonjour, Aurelie. Je m'appelle Seto Kaiba."

At that point, the bell rang, and everyone ran for the door, except Yugi (who of course had to stay in, plus the two brunettes at the back. Kaiba went to retrieve his laptop, and Aurelie packed up slowly and headed for the door, eavesdropping on the conversation because the translator was on.

"Kaiba, you're staying in after school today. Go and sit down." The teacher had obviously had the same scenario happen several times, as she looked fit to burst at Kaiba's reply.

"Can't, I've got a meeting in 45 minutes. I'm available next on the 24th June though, shall I schedule it then? I'll need my laptop though, it has the information I need to make more in an hour than you can in your life." Picking up his laptop, he tried to walk away.

"I'll be sending a letter home then, that's the 5th time in two weeks I've had to confiscate that thing from you. As usual, you didn't bother to come in on the other occasions." Miss Yoroshiro obviously wasn't particularly pleased with him.

"There's frankly no point, as I won't even bother to open it. I'm sorry I wasn't able to come in otherwise, but luckily, my company needs me more than the school does, so it doesn't matter."

Aurelie didn't hear the rest, as she had to leave, but the shouting could be heard echoing along the corridor as Kaiba exited the classroom smirking.

Right- translation time. Kaiba kindly did the first one for us, but here goes…

Scheizer kopf- s head- is German (everything else is French or Japanese in this chapter)

C'etait impoli- that's rude

Parlez-vous Allemand- you speak German?

Oui, stupide- yes, stupid

Comme langues faitez-vous parle?- what languages do you speak?

Couramment? Francais, Anglais, Allemand, Espagnol, Italien, Russe, Norwégien, Islandais, Grec et Flamand. Et-toi?- Fluently? French, English, German, Italian, Russian, Norwegian, Icelandish, Greek and Flemish. And you?

Japonais, Anglais, Allemand et Francais- Japanese, see above for the others

Vous ne parlez pas Japonais? -You don't speak Japanese?

Non, mais je vex apprendre.- No, but I want to learn

Hai. Kon'nichiwa, Aurelie-san. Watashi wa namae Kaiba Seto desu-

Bonjour, Aurelie. Je m'appelle Seto Kaiba- These mean the same thing- Hi, my name is Seto Kaiba.

I think that's all for this chapter- the next one will be up soon- I just have to type it up!


	2. Of Cards and Rooftops

**Of Cards and Rooftops…**

A/N- oh yes- we're back at the author notes! Thanks to those who reviewed- and pointed out a couple of typos I'd missed- whoops! More are welcome /hint hint

Hee hee- let's watch the action unfold… passes cyber popcorn to everyone reading

Aurelie sat at her desk the next morning bored. Double English was tedious when you already spoke the language and couldn't be bothered to laugh at everyone else's bad pronunciation. Also, Kaiba wasn't there.

She'd known that entering the building was a rare event for him ( having Googled him last night and found his company was worth over four billion- so of course he didn't need to come to school), but she was still missing the little company he supplied. Not even bothering to listen to the teacher, she completed the work load in the exercise book she was given (it was printed like a text book- so why she had a text book too was beyond her) and sat down to wait.

It may be English now- the only subject she understood, but in an hour and a half's time it would be maths- so she was stuffed. She wouldn't be able to read the textbook for a start, but her lack of mathematical ability was astounding- she knew she was useless, and she'd just have to live with it. Watching the clock tick the minutes away, she sunk further into her thoughts when there was a knock on the door.

"Sorry I'm late, had to get some work done this morning before coming in." The teacher grunted, and let the teenager through to his seat, which he took without any indication of regret for being an hour and a half late. Glancing at the teacher to make sure she was entirely wrapped up in what she was doing, he turned to Aurelie and pulled out a slightly worn pack of cards.

"Cheat? With Japanese numbers?"

"Yes- but I don't know the numbers."

"Give me strength- that's why we're doing it with Japanese numbers _so_ _you can learn them._" Kaiba had no patience for people being ignorant. He'd been up since some god-forsaken hour of the morning to get his current work project finished, and the coffee he'd had was apparently decaf.

Snapping back to life, he threw a suit out onto the desk. Pointing out the numbers, he reassembled the pack, and with practised ease shuffled and dealt the cards.

15 minutes later, they'd played a best of three match, and Kaiba had won 2-1. Aurelie had expected the inevitable outcome- as her opponent lived for games. She however, didn't. Internet RPG and virtual reality were the only games she could play successfully- because of a lot of free time, a wild card entry into a tournament, and a broadband connection in the tournament prize. But that was three years ago, and she hadn't used a VR system in ages.

Suddenly, she heard a beep come from her neck.

"Hang on, E-mail. Philippe must have replied." Pulling out her necklace, she quickly unhooked it around her neck, pulled a digi-pen out of one side of the pendant and flipped it open. Inside was a lap top- but even smaller, fitting into an enlarged version of a duel monsters card. Rapidly opening her email programme, she read the message, and replied hastily. Looking up to make sure that the teacher hadn't seen, she glanced around and saw Kaiba staring at her.

"Where the hell did you get that?"

"Won it a couple of years ago. VR tournament, wildcard entry, the thing that got me into PC gaming..."

"That's where I've seen you before. I knew it…"

"What the hell? Were you participating?"

"No, KaibaCorp held the tournament, and I was away on a business trip, so I watched it over video link. My brother was there though."

"Oh…"

Three weeks later, and Aurelie was sitting behind the gas tank on the roof, talking to her best friend from England over MSN- although it was 7 am over there, it didn't stop her. Sadly, school beckoned for Sara, and she had to go offline. Aurelie knew full well that no one else would be available to talk- a nine hour time difference meant that everyone she knew was in bed or at school. Closing her pocket laptop, she tucked it into her shirt again and began to cry, much to the annoyance of the person on the other side of the gas tank, who was trying to concentrate.

Seto had been sitting on the roof for the best part of an hour, after feeling he needed some fresh air, trying to work with a deadline that was ever approaching. He'd been in and out of school for the last month or so trying to get it finished, and had a week now to get it done. School had been the major problem- usually he'd have finished this way before the cut off time that was set and be onto the next thing. However, the sniffling coming from behind him was disturbing him, as well as the string of swear words that was being issued at the same time. Most of them were in French, so he came to a conclusion that it could only be Aurelie. Saving his work and packing up his laptop, he walked slowly around the side of the tank to see a small figure scrunched up in a ball.

"Aurelie? Wo tut es weh?"

"Houtteoite." Aurelie had apparently managed to learn some Japanese whilst he'd been away. Sitting down beside her, he suddenly noticed a pool of red liquid that was growing at an alarming pace. It seemed to be coming from under her fringe, and then it hit him. Blood.

"Get your fringe out of your face. You need to get that sorted out." Kaiba couldn't have his tester and a potential opponent at that, bleeding to death.

Aurelie sighed, and tucked her fringe behind her ear. Seto had to bite his lip to stop himself saying anything. Crossing her temple and cheek was a group of cuts that just missed her eye. It was like looking at two different faces, as not only the cuts, it was if the blood had stained her eye. It wasn't green like the other- instead it was a dark brown. Aurelie shuddered, and collapsed straight into him, or more precisely, across his knees.

"Scheizer." At a complete loss of what to do, Seto picked up both school bags, gingerly lifted Aurelie and took the shortest route to his home.

"Hold on…" he murmured, just in case she could hear him.

OK- translation time!

Wo tut es weh- What's wrong? Yes, Kaiba prefers German to French.

Houtteoite- Japanese- Leave me alone.

Scheizer- I'm sure we've had this one before- but it's the s word. Kapeesh?

See you next time!


	3. Of Revelations of the Worse Kind

**Revelations of the worse kind…**

A/N- Well, hello there! I'm a bit hyper at the minute (hot chocolate and it's 10:34 right now) but I'll keep this short. I'm sorry it took some time, I've been in a show so I've had no time.

-Insert standard disclaimer here- I want to get onto the story, and you've all read the 'I don't wanna be sued' stuff before.

Also, whatever you may think, this is not a romance story. I don't write that. If that's what you were expecting, I'm sorry. All will be revealed in this chapter.

Okay, let's get the story going- all thanks to reviewers, more are appreciated! (/shameless plug)

**0-0-0-0**

When Aurelie woke up, her eyesight was almost completely distorted- too bright. She realised the reason for this (her fringe wasn't over her eye) without noticing the room she was in, the other people who were with her, and the fact that her face was hurting like hell.

On closer investigation, she discovered that the offending piece of hair was being held back by a pair of grips, and as she tried to restore her original hair style, someone in front of her began to speak.

"There is frankly no point of undoing your fringe, unless you want everything to get infected. Mokuba, I won the bet. You owe me." The top of a head turned (or so it seemed to Aurelie from her vantage point), someone else tutted, and a small person with long black hair stood up and turned to her.

"Ohayoo Gozamasu, Aurelie- san!" Tossing a coin to the person on the floor, Mokuba ran out of the room.

"You had a bet? That's low, taking money off your younger brother."

"Couldn't resist. It was too tempting to see what you would do in the situation- and well, I was right." Seto smirked and came to sit in an armchair beside the bed, while Aurelie soaked up her surroundings.

Everything in the massive space was blue, silver or white. The room was packed with technology- from the computers, peripherals and various pieces of wiring, to things that Aurelie had never seen before.

"And… where am I?"

"Well, I panicked after you passed out…"

"I passed out! Merde…"

"Let me finish! You're in one of the guest bedrooms in the mansion. It seemed the wisest course of action- hospitals ask awkward questions, which I won't. I'll just assume my hunch is correct." _Cocky moron_, Aurelie thought. _What is he taking to give himself that kind of an ego?_

"And your hunch is…." Curiosity killed the cat, but she had to know what the heck he was talking about.

"That the penknife cuts on your face aren't self inflicted, but were done by _dear_ Gozaburo."

"Who the hell is Gozaburo? I've never met anyone called that. If you're thinking about my stepfather, his name is Douglas." Although Aurelie wouldn't dream of telling him, he was right. An over-violent argument over school had resulted in this- namely, one person couldn't cope on his own, and when the other tried to get an education so she could do something with her life, then forgot something and had to go home at lunch to get it, he lashed out after being provoked. It was her own fault really.

"Douglas? He calls himself Douglas? No- really, his name is Gozaburo Kaiba. My dear ex-stepfather."

"What the… how the hell do you know that? Shimatta, what did you do?"

"Nothing, grabbed some stuff for you, took his fingerprints because I needed him to admit he was back, left a book there for you to help with the Japanese, but you seem to have got some of it down, so that's alright…"

"You went to my house! Whatever possessed you to do that?" Aurelie was incredulous, but then it hit her. "Hang on…"

"What?" Kaiba wasn't in the mood for people not to explain themselves properly. More decaf coffee- it did nothing for him.

"He's your stepfather… no way… that's why he hates you? What the hell did you do?"

Kaiba smirked. "Hostile takeover, about four years ago, then I did it again the next year. Too hard to resist."

"But we're not technically related in any way, right? As that would be sick and wrong."

"No, and yes."

"What! How!" Aurelie was horrified at the thought. She was not related to him. She couldn't be.

"Technically, as soon as he changes your surname-"

"Which he won't." No way would Aurelie let him, as she liked her surname how it was.

"You really have a thing about interrupting people don't you?" For Seto, this reminded him of Mokuba, who couldn't hear a sentence without butting in. "Well, trust me, he'll make you change it. He wants someone rational to continue the family name, and since Mokuba and I went off the rails, in that sense, you'll be his next target. If you're a Kaiba, to me, you're related. If not, then no. Sadly, he's still my guardian, even if he did bugger off quite some time ago."

"I don't want to be related to you though…"

"Well, I'm afraid that's tough. Anyway, work beckons, so I have to go. There's a bag of clothes over on the floor that I picked up, and some stuff on the table to help with the Japanese while you're here. Oh, and you'll get a good VR game if Mokuba's bored later this afternoon."

"It's a Friday though, what about school?"

"You can't go in looking like that, you'll get verbally slaughtered. You can stay here, because Mokuba doesn't bother with school on Fridays anyway. Plus you need to learn the language properly so you can stop depending on the translator, because I need to finish a report on it. I'll need it back, as well as a statement saying how well it worked."

"I was testing it for you? You never told me that."

"Got to go, meeting in an hour, I'll see you later." With that, he left the room. There was no way he was going to get caught up in a morals argument, as he didn't care. Manipulating people was what he did to get things done, and he wanted to coerce Aurelie into working for the company, as she had skills he needed. No way was he going to lose her now in a petty disagreement.

Aurelie, however, felt insulted that he'd upped and left like that. Getting out of bed, she stretched, and swooped for the bag, riffling through it. Selecting a couple of pieces of clothing, she got changed into some comfortable clothes (she'd always hated short skirts), headed over to the desk to select a book, and settled into the chair that Kaiba had recently vacated.

Grammar text books. Although she hoped the teenager meant well (which he did, in a business way- he needed the translator back, so all he could do was to get her to learn the language), they were the most boring books you could get- so why she spent most of her life immersed in them she didn't know.

**0-0-0-0**

OK, I used the basic stuff today, but just in case…

Ohayoo Gozamasu, Aurelie-san: Hello, Aurelie (he's being formal- if it's someone you know the Japanese just use Ohayoo)

Shimatta and Merde mean the same thing, and I'm sure I've said it before, so there's no need. Swear word.

Sayonara, dudes and dudesses! I'll see you on the next update!


	4. Of Textbooks and Virtual Reality

**Of textbooks and virtual reality**

This one's for Avid Reader Also, who's helped me no end (even if they don't realise it) on getting my original draft up to scratch with their ideas and questions. Also, they were one of two reviewers for the last chapter (but the other's probably biased, seeing as she knows me very well…)

Well, here goes nothing….

**0-0-0-0-0**

Although Aurelie had been initially annoyed at the notion of stepbrothers, and especially Kaiba, who had an ego the size of Russia, at least he had the bank balance to match. Maybe if she stuck with it he would get her home, to France, and away from Gozaburo. If she didn't run first.

Resettling herself in the chair she was currently occupying, she snapped her book shut. It had been a very interesting read, and although Japanese was nothing like any other of the languages she'd learnt, she was enjoying the experience. Only one thing was fazing her- the writing systems. Without a definitive alphabet (apart from the 84 hirigana and katakana), with different connotations for each sound, she doubted she'd get anywhere. Which was where 'Nii-san' came up trumps. Moving back over to the desk, there was a scribbled note on top of two books, a CD player and a box.

_Aurelie,_

_Thought you'd have trouble with kanji, so came up with this. Underneath this note are two copies of a book- one English, one Japanese, with the audio book to it (in Japanese, of course.) Use the audio book and JP copy at the same time, and you'll get through it._

_Regards,_

_Seto. _

Heck, that guy was too intelligent for his own good. Aurelie went back to her seat, unravelled the headphones from the CD player, opened the book and began to listen, following the words as she went. After about half an hour, she realised it was just a matter of learning each word compound, not separate characters, and after two hours, she had got three quarters of the way through the book when there was a knock on the door. Getting up with a sigh and placing everything on the seat, she opened the door to find Mokuba there.

"Umm.. Hey Aurelie. I was wondering if you'd like to come downstairs and play a VR game. Seto wants me to test it, but it would be more fun if you played too. Stretch the gaming skills a bit." Aurelie was surprised how good his English was, but she supposed that he'd learnt it at school, as well as for the company. Closing the door on the room, she accompanied him downstairs

"How's your face? It looked painful…" Of course, Aurelie hadn't unclipped her fringe yet, as there was frankly no point.

"It's still throbbing, but is infinitely better than yesterday, thanks. How bad was it?"

"Lots and lots of blood. I've never seen nii-sama look so shocked. I think you managed to disconcert him for the first time in about 3 years, he just came running in without a word. It was scary."

"Does Kaiba-san have any emotions? At school, if he's ever there, he just sits there and smart-mouths the teachers like what for, completely seriously, like he has nothing else to do." Aurelie, quite frankly, was astounded that he managed to get away with it. She'd seen him dodge at least 3 after school detentions, and have his laptop confiscated umpteen times, with no consequence.

"Well, that's because he hasn't really. The only reason he goes to school at all is because of child labour laws, and he learnt all of it over two years when Gozaburo was still in existence." For the first time, Mokuba sounded bitter. He obviously hadn't been alerted to the return of the beast.

"Well, much to my joy, he is still in existence, and is making my life hell."

"What! No way! That's why nii-sama looked so subdued when he got back the second time. That makes you a step sister, right? I've always wanted a sister, or at least someone else in the house. Seto spends so much time at the office working he's never home…"

"Technically, yes, we are. Kaiba-san says that if I get the surname, I'm part of the family." Thinking about it, Aurelie wouldn't mind having Mokuba as a brother. He was quite cute, and if he liked virtual reality, and games in general, she wasn't complaining. Personally, most of her time (when not forced into grammar books) was spent on the internet, playing on MMORPGs, as well as moderating one (she was admin, after beating the creator in a fight- being level 87 had compensations, however long it had taken her to get there), and helping to run a games forum with an old friend from France, Philippe.

Finally, Mokuba stopped at a door, and opened it to reveal three pods. Quickly manipulating the console to Random, he beckoned Aurelie into one of the contraptions, entered one himself, and closed the lid on reality.

**0-0-0-0-0**

It was 8 pm, and Kaiba was on his way home from work. Early home from work. Not that he'd probably see Mokuba, as if everything went to plan, he'd be using the Virtual Reality system with Aurelie. The idea was that if they used the same settings, and then compared their scores, they could see whether her winning that tournament a couple of years ago was fluke or not. Zipping through the traffic lights on his motorbike, turning through to a road that would lead him to the private lane up to the mansion, Seto began to think. Aurelie probably wouldn't like being used to test another KC product- she was very strong minded and didn't like being another person's puppet… was this him developing a conscience? Casting it out of his mind, he continued the journey home, and on pulling into the drive, and returning his motorbike to the garage, walked straight into the house, and down to the testing room. Luckily, the pull of a VR game had got the plot going smoothly, so Kaiba smirked, and went to the central console to see how they were doing. They had about another half hour left, so plugging his laptop into a port on the machine, he took an NPC's role, and sat down to wait. It wouldn't take either player long to get there, so soon, he could see just how good she was.

Admittedly, he hadn't done much work at all that day. Much of it was spent looking at a gaming forum he'd found. It was French, had very good feedback on KC products (especially VR games) and unless this was very much coincidence, the admin were a pair called Aurelie and Philippe- or that was their real names anyway. Since the former posted everywhere on the site, including the different language connotations, he had formed an infallible conclusion. Aurania was none other than the teenager in the pod in front of him.

He'd then had a search on the username 'Aurania' around the internet, and had discovered that this certain person was first and foremost a gamer. Then, the final piece. On Fantasy-online (a huge fantasy combat MMORPG), Aurania was admin, and was so because she'd beaten the creator in a fight. Her profile sealed it. There was her name, age, gaming history, and on her journal, the triumphant news that she'd won a VR tournament at KaibaCorp. Seto smirked again. She was perfect world champion material, but first, he'd have to see whether this was fluke or not. Settling back in his seat, he unhooked a microphone/earphone piece, and inserted it in his ear. He may as well have the whole experience…

**0-0-0-0-0**

A couple of explanations:

MMORPG: Massively Multiplayer Online Role Play Game.

Nii-san/sama- Older brother, but -sama gives more respect than -san.

NPC- Non Player Character

Ooh, yes, the next chapter will be fun! I'm sorry for taking time to write this, but I've got a big project for Monday, exams we don't even need the week after (causing unnecessary revision) and also, I've been in a show, so writing time was cut down considerably.

See ya! Thank you in advance for any reviews!

Glastea


	5. Of Fighting and Chopsticks

**Of fighting and chopsticks…**

A/N- This is a long one! But, it was cut down somewhat from the original draft, so trust me, it could have been worse. By the way, this happens just before the animé starts, and so, Gozaburo is alive and kicking. In this fan fiction anyway…

I hope you enjoy it (this chapter gave me so much satisfaction!), and if the feeling takes you, leave a review. I'm sure it can be improved, and trust me, I get a brilliant sense of joy when I see the message in my inbox. Don't worry, I'm not going to stop writing this if I get no R+Rs (I'm not that pathetic to take it personally), but just make my day. OK pumpkin?

This one's for Scorpicus.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Aurelie was officially annoyed. She could see the end portal, but was having problems getting to it, due to the fact she was fighting the final boss, but couldn't defeat her. This meant she was in pain, as one thing that was wrong with the pods was the fact that it hurt when you got hit. The kid she was fighting was small, mousy, and supposedly two years younger than her, so surely she could do something to defeat the infuriating ninja. Biting her lip, she raised her dagger, and went in for another attack, to no avail, as her opponent sidestepped, turned, and caught her at a point on her neck, causing her agony. It was like someone else was controlling the NPC- but probably not…

Seto was having a great time. He hadn't gamed for the heck of it for years. Normally, he was getting a title, testing something, or trying to prove to Mokuba that he couldn't be beaten. This however, was new entirely. Yes, his fingers were aching because of the speed he was typing in instructions, but who cared? He was going to prove that no one could beat him. No one had for years, and he wasn't planning to start now. Laughing mentally at the next attack, he began to concentrate on the task in hand.

Aurelie had just had an idea. If she could find the point where she'd been got in the neck on her opponent, she could get past this and finish the game. Taking a deep breath, she moved back, and waited for her opponent to hit first. Then, she would be waiting.

Kaiba was slightly puzzled at the new tactic. What on earth was she doing? True, her life bar was dangerously low, but never mind that. His task was to wipe her off the face of the computer code, and once he'd done that, he'd be happy. In a sadistic way. Pausing for a moment, he began to type another command into his laptop.

Yes! The kid was coming to attack. Waiting until she judged the right moment, she ducked the hand coming towards her neck, and thrust out her own, grasping the wind pipe securely, and manoeuvring one of her fingers until she found the right spot.

"Scheizer…" The pint sized ninja faded away, but that wasn't the voice of a thirteen year old girl. Suddenly managing to feel exhilarated and hurt at the same time, she threw herself towards the portal, and back into reality.

Seto was mentally kicking himself. Quickly closing the VR programme, he opened a word processing document and began to type again, pausing only for a quick sip of coffee. When Aurelie emerged, she did not look pleased. In the least.

"That hurt!" And without thinking what she was doing, she slapped him around the face. As she cringed (lack of thought chain got her nowhere), a red mark spread onto his skin, and he winced.

"Well, thank you for the constructive criticism. I'll have to work on that." Turning to the main console, he printed out her statistics for the game, and compared them to his, which were tacked onto the wall. Frowning, he turned back to the fuming individual in from of him.

"Well, your time was longer than mine, but your point score was just higher. That means I need more practise."

Aurelie was fuming. Not even a well done? The moron. He would pay... or not. Mokuba finished the game at that point, and hugged his older brother so hard he nearly fell off his chair.

"What happened to your face, nii-sama?" Seto frowned. Inquisitive children indeed.

"Err… yes. Don't worry about that, it's nothing." Glancing over to the perpetrator of the mark, Seto noticed she looked quite ashamed of herself. _Ha,_ he thought,_ you think you got me? High pain barriers are excellent things to acquire._ Seto's had always been natural, and although being attacked had never been a problem (Gozaburo had never laid a hand on him, but had seemed to have got more violent as time went on, looking at the scabs Aurelie had), he'd always seen it as a good thing. Pulling a roll of tape out of his trench coat pocket, he threw it at the blushing girl, who caught it at the edge of her fingertips.

"Medi-tape. You'll need it." He said shortly.

"Thanks…"Aurelie slipped the roll into her pocket.

Mokuba's stomach rumbled loudly, and he joined the group of red faced people as the older teenagers turned to stare at him.

"Right, take Aurelie down to my study, and we'll eat down there." Seto followed the pair out of the room, Mokuba dragging Aurelie by the sleeve, and as they went up the stairs, he continued along the ground floor.

"Wow…" Aurelie mumbled, as Mokuba let go of her, and she stared at the room around her. It was chock a block with computers, wires, schematics, but a huge pile of paperwork dominated the desk, topping off the illusion that for a teenager, Seto worked far too much.

"Right, let's get this place set up." Mokuba, with Aurelie's help, set up a small table and got three chairs out of a closet as Seto arrived back, sipping his coffee, and carrying his laptop bag. Perching on the edge of one of the seats, he opened his laptop, opened a word document, and began to type as he talked to Aurelie.

"Right. Gozaburo disappears four years ago from Domino, when I initiated a hostile takeover. He then goes to England, where he…"

Aurelie then continued where he'd left off. "Began Andrews Incorporated, under the name of Douglas Andrews. My mum translated for him, and he displayed the only French he knew- so"

"Which was…" Aurelie really didn't want to tell him. Mokuba was too young to hear that kind of thing, and she was sure his older brother wouldn't appreciate it, until the small individual's expression went from curious to extremely cute. How could she resist that?

"Veulez- vous coucher avec moi, ce soir." Aurelie said exasperatedly. She and Seto exclaimed glances, and she tried not to laugh at the slightly shocked look on his face.

"Which means… what?" Seto may have had the French under his belt, but Mokuba didn't.

"You'll find out when you're older." Seto stopped the subject before it went anywhere. As far as he was concerned, Mokuba was better off not knowing. "Continue, Aurelie-chan."

"They ended up married, I wasn't happy at all, but it didn't matter. Then mum passed away suddenly, and Gozaburo starts his 'must make stepdaughter have a nervous breakdown with all the languages she has to learn' thing, but I was having none of it, and since he wasn't at home half the time, it didn't matter much. And then," she said, taking a deep breath, "you did a hostile takeover of the company." Aurelie didn't particularly want to turn this session into an argument, but it was technically Seto's fault that her life was hell at the minute.

"Yes, well, I needed a UK branch for the company, and I couldn't resist taking another war munitions factory." Seto said with a smirk. "He'll be sending a hit man over to the mansion soon then…"

"Probably. And then, we went to Germany, and then two years after that were spent going all over the place, until I ended up here. Then, in another month, I'll be off somewhere else."

There was a knock on the door. Seto answered it, said something quietly to the person on the other side of the doorframe, and closing the door with one hand, balanced a tray on the other and returned to his seat.

"Food's up." Passing a pair of chopsticks to the others, he took a tea towel off the top of the tray to reveal sushi, and in an odd cultural mix, cheese and biscuits. Meanwhile, Aurelie was staring at the sticks she'd been given and was wondering what had ever been wrong with knives and forks. Bemusedly, Seto realised, and directed her on how to use them, as Mokuba turned on his brother.

"Can we kidnap Aurelie-chan so she has to stay here? Pleeeaaase?"

Aurelie had to stop herself laughing as the teenager attempted to resist the pull of his younger sibling. _That really is quite mocking really, _she thought.

"Mokuba, stop it. Now. It won't work… oh scheizer. Aurelie can stay as long as she wishes to, but I'm not kidnapping anyone." Seto said, fully aware of the what Aurelie must have thought of him.

"Thank you, nii-sama!" Mokuba said, beaming.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Quite some time later, the clock beeped, and Mokuba tried to suppress a yawn, which his older brother picked up on immediately.

"Bed. Now."

"Oh, Seto…" It was 10 pm (VR took a lot of time to do, and they'd spent a good hour in the study eating), and he obviously had no intention of sleeping.

"Do I have to make you?" Seto said exasperatedly. The smaller brother apparently wasn't going to budge, so much to Aurelie's amusement, Seto picked up the younger child by the back of his body warmer, opened the door and took him, kicking and protesting, to the room next door (his bedroom), where he left him with a warning.

"No video games, or I will take the fuse out," and he walked down the corridor back to his study.

"You should think about turning in too. I'm going to get through the paper work pile so I can take a day off tomorrow, and Mokuba will be bouncing on your bed at 7:30 so you'll come and play some more VR, and then I can get some idea bouncing off you later, or something to that effect."

"Oyasuminasai, Kaiba-san." Aurelie said, slouching to the door.

"You're there about one of us. I have a forename, it is Seto." Seto said, taking another sip of the coffee he'd had an hour ago (the fact it was cold didn't bother him), moving to the executive chair by his desk and reaching for the first piece of paperwork.

"Hai. Oyasuminasai, Seto-san." Aurelie exited the room, thought about where she was going for a split second (of course, there was a shout of "three doors down, to the right," from behind the closed door of the study,) and then went into her current sleeping area, bandaged her face up somewhat, and went to bed.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Right- some stuff to translate! I have a feeling I've done quite a lot of it before, so I'll just do the bits I feel necessary.

Veulez- vous coucher avec moi, ce soir- this one's off Moulin Rouge (I love that film!) and so veulez is a party of to want, and coucher is to put oneself to sleep. That's as far as I'm going.

Hai. Yes,

Oyasuminasai- Good night.

See ya next time!

Glastea


	6. Of Kidnappings and Makeup

**Of Kidnappings and Makeup**

A/N- Kon'nichiwa! Here again with the next instalment (as usual) and to say that this one is quite long, but was very satisfying when I finished it.

On with the show (cue curtain!)

**0-0-0-0-0**

Aurelie was walking back to the lions' den. It was 8pm, Sunday evening, and she was walking down the street to her current habitation.

Although Mokuba had offered the limo to get her back to the house, she had politely refused, as not only would it look downright suspicious, she preferred to walk. After spending a great weekend at the mansion- although the older Kaiba had spent most of it in the study working, he'd managed to spend that afternoon with them, cultivating in a full house game of Hide and Seek, where Mokuba had spent two hours searching for the pair of them (Aurelie wasn't quite sure how she'd managed it, but she had sat on top of one of the rafters in the main hall for an hour and a half waiting for him to look up, and Seto had been found under the floorboards in his study- how'd he got in there she didn't know), but now, she was out of the rain, and into the relative warmth of the building.

Slipping her shoes off and looking around cautiously, she ascended the stairs and opened the door into her bedroom to find a red faced stepfather waiting for her.

"Where were you?" He said accusatively.

"Out." Aurelie said coldly. She wasn't planning to divulge any information to this particular gentleman, and also, she had homework that wouldn't do itself.

"Well, I've decided. You're changing your surname."

"What! No way!" _Annoying Seto, too much of a know-it-all for his own good._ How had he managed to predict that?

"Well, let me rephrase that. You, Aurelie Kaiba, have changed your surname. Due to the fact that some police person came here when you were absent."

Aurelie decided to let him suffer a bit. After all, he was in the way, and when he got out of her bedroom, she could unpack, and get the dangerously close to collapsing pile of work completed. "Kaiba as in Seto Kaiba? That CEO who's a millionaire? You're not serious. That would make you Gozaburo Kaiba, which makes you slightly mocked, if I've done my homework correctly. He took over you twice? Oh, you should asha…"

The speech was stopped abruptly as she hit the wall, and crumpled to the floor.

**0-0-0-0-0**

It was 7:30 am, and Aurelie was on the roof behind the gas tank, finishing the day's homework. She'd escaped from the house early to escape 'the thing', and finally writing the last symbol, she put her pen away, and climbed through the roof hatch to make her way down to the classroom she'd be spending the day in.

On opening the door however, she was surprised to see someone with a laptop sitting in the back corner.

"Thought you didn't bother with school on Mondays? Or most days, for that matter," she stated, taking the seat beside him and pulling out her mini PC to check her e-mail.

"I don't actually, but something compelled me to come in today. Nice bruises, by the way. Surname argument?" Seto smirked as he returned to his computer screen.

"In one. Are they that bad? I need to grow my fringe over both sides of my forehead, so I can cover my face up properly." Aurelie stared at her own PC confusedly. There were a group of e-mails entitled Happy Birthday staring at her, but… why? Turning to the teenager next to her, she asked, "What date is it?" So much country changing and lack of a watch left her very disorientated when it came to dates and such.

"February 22nd. Why?" Seto hadn't even looked up from his project.

"Merde, c'est ma anniversaire. How on earth did I forget?" Aurelie muttered to herself, logging onto the gaming forum to see what was happening. Surprisingly, Philippe had put up her birthday on the main news page. It was the fact that she'd had very little recognition of this occasion over the last few years that had caused her to forget it, and Seto could see the similarity. Mokuba had had to make him remember his birthday for quite some time now, and couldn't make him take a day off to celebrate.

However, before either Kaiba could continue their pursuit, the bell rang, and technology was hurriedly put away as a stampede of students came through the door, leaving a bruised and battered Yuugi in their wake. Before she could blink, the Japanese lesson had begun.

**0-0-0-0-0**

It was only at lunchtime that everything began to go wrong. Instead of the usual rush out of the classroom, everyone left almost leisurely, including the Kaiba fan club (whom Seto always managed to ignore, despite their swooning, love charms, and every other tactic they employed to try and make him notice them), who left the room almost last, just before Aurelie. As soon as she stepped out of the door, however, someone dropped a bin bag over her head, and she was shoved away.

After about what seemed an age of struggling, Aurelie felt herself being forced onto a chair, and something winding around her, constricting her breathing slightly, as a pair of nail scissors came dangerously close to her uncovered eye and Anzu came into view, holding a piece of duct tape. Before Aurelie could protest, the tape was over her mouth, and Anzu had turned to the other girls, who were grouped around her school bag, for some reason.

"Got anything, girls?" She asked, joining the circle.

"School books, pencil case, the usual boring stuff. Oh, and she had a makeup bag, but it was just full of eyeliner, white powder, and black stuff," one of the girls reported, throwing the incriminating objects all over the floor.

Aurelie thought there was nothing that they could get her for- even if she didn't know what she'd done in the first place. However, her necklace then bleeped loudly to confirm low battery, and as she mentally cringed, another of the minions unhooked the offending piece of jewellery from around her neck and examined it.

"Seto- sama has one of these!" She exclaimed triumphantly, as another of the clones swooned. Aurelie then realised that this was the SK fan club, relaxed, then tensed up as she realised what they were insinuating.

The tape was ripped off from around her mouth as Anzu returned to her captive, and asked "What's going on between you and Kaiba-sama?"

"Pardon?" Aurelie nearly laughed, but decided that in the situation, it wouldn't be wise.

"Tell us, or we'll give you a complete makeover." Aurelie gulped.

"Yeah," one of the fan club leered, "I wanna know what's happening under your fringe."

"Nothing. Why would anything? Kaiba-san has no time for a relationship, and he probably hasn't got the emotional capacity to have one either." Aurelie was panicking, mainly because there was a pair of nail scissors quickly approaching her face, and her curtain of hair had been a work in development for three years or so, and she didn't want all that work to go to waste.

The group huddled, and began to whisper. Suddenly, they pounced on their hostage, one girl grabbing her fringe, and pinned it back behind her ear, revealing the patchwork of micro pore underneath, whilst another pulled the scrunchie out of its' position and began to rake a hairbrush through her hair.

Meanwhile, everyone else had gathered by her school bag, muttering things about lip gloss and lilac. Anzu turned to face the shocked individual who was taped to the chair.

"Well, we can definitely sort you out a bit, but let's get the contact lens out first." Plunging forward, she stuck her fingers into Aurelie's green eye, making her yelp.

"Why would only wear one? Get your hand out of my eyeball, you chav." Of course, no one knew what a chav was, so bewildered looks spread throughout the room.

"Is that an insult?" Anzu was first to react.

"Finally, a breakthrough! You do have a brain!" Aurelie would have raised her hands in mock prayer if they weren't taped to her sides. The girl went a bright shade of pink, and turned to her 'posse'.

"Use magenta." Aurelie gulped as the group of kidnappers grinned. "Oh, and before you start," she said, moving to the hostage, "we need to get this off for an even coat of foundation." With that, she took the largest piece of medi tape, and ripped it off.

However, that wasn't the only damage done. All the other pieces of micro pore were attached to the largest piece of tape, and as they were painfully extracted from her face, the newly created scabs were pulled off too, causing a lot of pain, and yet more blood. As the group left screaming, leaving one of their number behind, who had fainted at the sight of blood. As Aurelie sat there, somehow noticing how much the red contrasted with the pink of her blazer, someone was walking through the lower levels of the school. Who definitely shouldn't have been.

Mokuba had purposely come to his favourite place in Seto's school- room 101. It was so far away from everywhere that he had never been found before, and wasn't planning to be. Opening the door whilst pulling his hair out of his hat, he was confused to find the lights were on, and that there was someone taped to a chair in the middle of the carnage that covered the floor.

"Oh my…" running to the figure, he began to attempt ripping the tape off, when he had an idea. Reaching into his school bag, he grabbed a communications device.

"Seto? We have a problem. Room 101, now."

There was a buzz from the other end of the connection.

"I don't frankly care! OK, OK, I do. Just get down here as soon as you can." Scowling, he pocketed the walkie talkie and continued to help the struggling girl out of the layers of tape and bin bag.

Less than a minute later, Seto burst through the door, and followed the exploded school bag to the immediate problem; and he ripped Aurelie out of the chair as the girl on the floor stirred.

_Flipping heck, he's going to do a Darth Vader!_ Aurelie thought, watching him wrench the girl up by her collar, her feet dangling on the ground.

"What the hell did you do kogal?" However, Kaiba didn't strangle her, only dropped her on the floor with disdain as she muttered something about him talking to her and passed out again. Aurelie however, was having a problem breathing because Mokuba has hugging her so hard. She extracted herself from the death grip, and went to reassemble her school stuff as he turned around to be met with a glare.

"What?"

"What happened to the 'Oh Seto, I won't run from my school in the middle of the day again because it causes you grief when letters get sent home'?"

"I'm not sitting through a two hour debate on how important functioning, normal family units are, how messed up people who don't have a conventional home life, and being told that I'll be slitting my wrists in a few years time because I don't have a pair of people to look after me, and that I must be so depressed now- not having a normal life, and all that shimatta." Mokuba retaliated. Big brothers could be such a bore at times.

"Don't swear." Seto realised this was highly hypocritical, but quite frankly, couldn't be bothered. Turning to the girl on the floor, who was trying to sort her fringe out so it covered the dry blood completely, he asked "what on earth happened?"

Aurelie smiled grimly. "Was ambushed, abducted, interrogated, threatened with makeup, and then put into considerable pain." Picking her now restored school bag up, she said "Gozaburo's out to see an old business friend today, so I'm gonna go home and patch my self up somewhat. I'll see you tomorrow, Seto-san." With that, she exited the room, and Mokuba turned to his older sibling.

"She called you Seto, nii-sama, and you didn't mind. Why?"

Seto smirked. "Because I told her to. Come on, I can't be bothered to stay here, let's go home. I have some work to do anyway."

The two boys took a shortcut (through the window), and soon disappeared into the shadow of the Sakura trees around them,

**0-0-0-0-0**

Translation/ term explanation time!

Merde, c'est ma anniversaire: sXXX, it's my birthday.

Chav- an English term for a person who wears very tacky clothing (Burberry), has very jewellery, can't speak properly, and wears so much foundation they look like an orang-utan. I laugh at them!

Darth Vader: For those who haven't seen Star Wars, he's a very powerful, 7 foot man, who literally strangled someone when you first see him in the film.

Kogal- trendy Japanese girl who's into fashion and makeup. Often used as the Japanese equivalent of chav (see above)

Shimatta- see merde.

Sakura tree- cherry blossom trees, quite simply. We're saying spring is blooming early.

That's all folks!


	7. Of Trench Coats and Duel Monsters

**Of Trench coats and Duel Monsters**

A/N- OK, this should be the penultimate chapter, according to the plan. Thanks to reviewers, and I'll get onto the story before you all leave. Ooh, and any language that looks new from now is Russian, because I'm learning it- nya ha ha! However, I'm sure that the site won't appreciate the Cyrillic alphabet, so I'm going to put it in phonetics to make everything easier.

**0-0-0-0-0**

The school week had finally ended, and it was Saturday morning. Aurelie was attempting to read the heavy textbook she'd had thrown at her on Monday evening (she was optimistically hoping it wasn't meant to have hit her, but then, it was a birthday present as such, so she wasn't complaining), but when looking at her laptop, she noticed she had email. It had come around 2 am that morning, so it must have been from someone abroad… but it wasn't. The sender was one S. so it could only be one person. Namely, the stepbrother. Aurelie hadn't quite achieved what she'd wanted to (no ticket to France was forthcoming,) but since the email was from someone she was likely to see at some point, she supposed she'd better read it.

Dear Aurelie,

We're having a research excursion today, and Mokuba wondered if you'd like to come with. If you could get over here by 10:45, we can be out of the house by 11.

Regards,

SK

Snapping the textbook shut, Aurelie glanced at the clock, swore loudly, and ran for the shower.

At 10:42, after getting dressed and writing a note to her stepfather to the effect of, 'I'm buggering off today- I'll see you later', Aurelie was running for it, to at least get there by five to. However, a black car with tinted glass pulled up, the window open a crack, and a cold voice sounded.

"Knew you'd be late. Want a lift? You're very lucky, Mokuba hasn't deigned to get out of bed, so I felt there'd be time to come and get you before we have to go." Cocky baka, Aurelie thought, but still replied in the affirmative, stepping through the recently opened car door into a white interior.

"Spaseebo, Seto", she said, fully aware that she couldn't address him properly, because she didn't know his fathers' first name, and wasn't about to ask. Suddenly aware of how nerdish she looked, she found out how interesting her knees were, and began to stare at them until the vehicle stopped.

Walking into the house, Seto stood on the bottom step of the flight of stairs, and shouted up "Mokuba? Are you up yet?"

A small figure with severe bed hair emerged on the landing, blinking at the light, and yawning profusely. "Have you ever heard of a lie in?" However, noticing the other person on the floor, he yelped, tried to flatten his hair, and ran into his bedroom.

"You have 5 minutes," Seto yelled at the closed door, and he began to make his way up the stairs. "Give me a moment to get a couple of things, will you?" Without an answer, his bedroom door slammed shut.

Aurelie sighed and seated herself on the stairs, opening her necklace pendant. She was just logging into a website when a door slammed and someone came downstairs, pausing only to look at the game Aurelie had logged onto.

"Seriously, that site needs a recode. Everything's doubled up." Seto blinked, and then realized the problem. Delicately, he plucked a lens out of his eye.

"You wear contact lenses?" Aurelie watched him pick out the other contact out and place them in a small box, as he shoved a pair of thick rimmed glasses up his nose. Finally making it to the bottom of the stairs, she couldn't help staring at him.

Admittedly, this was a change from the only 'casual' (if you could call it that) clothing she'd seen him wear. The tight clothing he'd worn then had been exchanged for a baggy outfit, although it was all the same colour- black. The dragon on the front of his T-shirt was resplendent, and although he was still wearing a trench coat- unfitted as it was, he somehow managed to look unbelievably unlike a normal teenager.

"Stop staring. These are the only un cool pieces of clothing I possess," he said, eyeing her. The Grim Fandango top she was wearing, although it looked good in her opinion, was probably out dated (she'd got it when she was at a convention ages ago), her warm top had a thumb hole cut in it (for warmth reasons) plus the bottoms of her jeans were slightly ragged. But then, for someone who didn't get out buying new stuff very often, she could have done worse.

"What is it with you, Mokuba and dragons?" It was true; they were all over the house- especially a silver one with blue eyes which seemed to follow you around when you were navigating through the corridors.

"What's wrong with my Blue Eyes?" Seto retorted, hurt. No one insulted his taste and got away with it. "I own the only three in the world, thank you very much, and I've got the Duel Monsters World Championship title to prove it."

Aurelie nearly fell off the stair she was sitting on. "You play Duel Monsters? You nerd! No one plays that! It's like completely taboo because the person who created it's well, that way inclined."

Seto was getting extremely annoyed. He spent his time duelling petty competitors because a, he was good at it and b; he was in a partnership with Crawford, making holograms of the cards for millions. He'd got the deal quite some time ago, but always managed to find time to make the coding better, or improve the technology to decrease it in size- his duel spin 1.0 was progressing very well. "You don't insult what I do with my life, and I won't say anything about you. Are we clear?" Aurelie got the death stare, and nodded, as Mokuba slid down the banister and landed at the foot of the stairs.

Seto tutted, but knowing that he'd done it before so couldn't say anything (no matter how long ago that was), turned to the smaller figure.

"Right, I'll take the bike and take her with me, whilst you get someone to drive you in. Well see you in about half an hour, in the normal place." Aurelie got the feeling that she wasn't in favour at the minute. "Come on, you, lets get over to the garage," really confirmed the fact, as Seto normally managing to use her name.

25 minutes later, however, they were making their way up Domino high street, towards the KC main office. Seto wasn't talking at all, until a gaggle of paparazzi went past, talking about 'how readers of Scoop magazine were going to see the hottest new gaming couple', and discussing whether Kaiba Corp stocks would fall in this new development. Seto smelling a rat, talked for the first time in about half an hour, as he passed Aurelie a coin, and asked if she could buy a copy of that magazine, but when she got back, and handed the bag to him, Mokuba had joined the party and the real reason that they'd come out started. Namely, trawling every game shop to see how Kaiba Corp games and gaming supplies were selling, and to see if any other companies were coming up. After splitting up- Mokuba and Aurelie went together, and Seto set off in the other direction; the idea being, that they could start in different game shops, gather information and then see when they'd finished if they'd both got the same information, each party having been in the same shops, but in a different order.

So, three hours later, they were sitting in the park, eating Chinese food and comparing data (Aurelie having got a reasonable hang of using chopsticks by now), when Seto remembered the magazine he had in his pocket. Whipping it out, he stared at the front cover, flicked through the pages to the inside Scoop, and after scanning a page, threw the object down in disgust. A huge headline proclaimed 'Seto Kaiba and ?' and there was a black and white photograph of a back view of a trench coated figure, carrying another person, their fringe flopping…

"Merde! Where did they get that from?" Aurelie asked in dismay. This must have been taken a couple of weeks ago, that day she'd been incapacitated, as such. She had told Philippe the last time she'd talked to him (over MSN naturally), and he'd told her to tell the police, social services, had completely panicked, despite the fact that she wasn't telling anyone- doing so would probably result in her having to stay in Japan permanently, and although it would mean getting rid of the evil pig, she wouldn't be getting back to France any time soon, no matter how much her current place of residence had become her second favourite place to be (England being her last- as that was where she'd first encountered him), and the fact that she had a sort of family unit (no matter how dysfunctional) here too, plus virtual reality at constant disposal.

"Of course, they had a hidden reporter somewhere, who took that picture- and they didn't catch you bleeding everywhere, so jumped the bandwagon. This is why they think stocks will fall, and they won't, trust me." He suddenly got a scary glint in his eye, and stood up.

"Has anyone else got anything else to do?" There was a general shaking of heads. "Good. Let's get home then. Aurelie, I've got a VR game that's shorter than the others, I want to see your time- and we can see how well you're doing too, Mokuba."

Hence, at 6 pm that evening, Seto dropped Aurelie off at the opening of the street where she lived, giving her a plastic bag containing what he said was something she'd forgotten, but what was actually a birthday present- a trench coat (if you were a Kaiba, you had to have one.) He had refused to let her walk on her own- on the grounds of 'look what happened last time I let you', and he watched her literally be yanked into the house- not wanting to get her into even more of a pit by being with her, or to see the living nightmare again for as long as he lived, as Gozaburo disgusted him. The idea of beating up someone for doing nothing wrong was despicable, and although he hoped that it wouldn't happen, there was nothing he could do.

Turning back to his motorbike, he was putting his helmet on when a loud voice came out of the doorway that Aurelie had just disappeared into.

"Hey, you!" Footsteps were running down the road, as he swung himself over his motorbike, and drove away. Scheizer, he thought, I should have stayed. However, there was nothing more he could do, as he entered the miasma of the dark, trying to put him behind him and hoping that the email he'd told her to send to him at 8 pm would come, confirming that all was fine.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Translations and explanation time:

Spaseebo- means thank you in Russian (I'm not that good yet…) phonetically.

In Russian, when being polite, you address someone by their first name, and their father's first name (like a middle name), but since Aurelie doesn't know it, she can't. Odd fact for you!

Grim Fandango- an ultrally cool PC game by LucasArts. It's all about getting to the underworld Mexican style, with lots of witty charaters, and so many plot twists you wouldn't believe!

See you next time- I hope this explains any questions that any of you had about earlier events. Please remember that this happens before the anime begins, so Seto still has his championship title, and Gozaburo is still alive (he hasn't thrown himself out of a high window yet…). Thank you for reading!


	8. Of Moving On

**Of Moving On**

A/N: Hello there, you who have stumbled across here! Thanks to all those who reviewed the last… how many chapters there were, but a big thank you to Avid Reader Also, who was so great with making suggestions this story isn't as bad as it could have been. Sorry this took quite some time to come forth, but I had a lot of things to do in a very short time, so I'm afraid this got a priority position of last. Oh well, life goes on, it's done now.

Well, here goes nothing, the final instalment. Let's get on with this.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Aurelie was sitting in the back of a car, in severe pain- she felt like her ribs were going to burst. Silently wincing, wanting to scream and vent every emotion on the monster in front of her, driving, she stared down into the object in her hands. Smashed into pieces, it shut her off from the outside world, from friends she would never see again, but most horribly of all, it meant she wasn't going to be able to tell any one what was happening- something she hadn't considered before, but most definitely the best course of action now. The screen was smashed, severed wires protruding from the broken case, the microchip broken. There was no way her computer was coming back from the grave now, she couldn't fix it -being able to manipulate XHTML, CSS and JavaScript didn't mean she knew anything about repairing hardware. Gozaburo had smashed it after she wouldn't tell him who she'd been with, along with making her pack a bag and literally throwing her into the car- having guessed correctly her company for the day. The impact of the blows she'd received had put her into her current state. As well as knowing that no one would ever help her again.

No way would she be let out of the house now- wherever that was going to be. She'd have to sit tight, and transform into an emotionless drone- just like Mokuba said Seto nearly became. _I'm going to lose my personality, s_he thought. _Just a translating robot, there to be a punch bag._ This idea played through her head, over and over again like a broken record, as the car continued along the motorway, and turned off at the junction to the airport.

**0-0-0-0-0**

"Seto! Come out! Please!" Mokuba pounded his fists on the study door again. It had been two days since the older Kaiba had entered the room, after coming back from dropping Aurelie- chan off, and he hadn't come out since. Mokuba had left him alone for the first day, knowing that Seto wouldn't exit until he was finished, but after thirty two hours, something definitely wasn't right. When Mokuba had knocked and tried to enter, he discovered the door was locked- and that never happened. The only door in the house that was usually locked was on the top floor- and was never spoken of. Also, there had been no reply, and nii-sama would never ignore him purposely- would he? Suddenly, the younger teenager had a flash of inspiration, and ran for the front door.

Seto hadn't been purposely ignoring Mokuba. In fact, he'd been concentrating hard on the paper work pile, as well as checking his inbox for the first day or so, until he somehow knew that there would be no response. Aurelie would probably be way out of the country by now- and it was probably his fault for not facing the yarou straight up. This was causing him quite severe guilt pangs (the likes of which he'd never had before), so he was trying to concentrate on something else, and move on. However, his coffee supply had run out after a bit, so eventually, after about a day and a half, he'd fallen into a deep, troubled, sleep, which was unusual. Seto prided himself as a light sleeper with irregular sleeping patterns, meaning he woke up at the slightest noise, and could continue finishing a project deep into the night without too severe repercussions. That was what coffee was for.

Mokuba found him curled up in his chair, still in ordinary clothing, his glasses skew-whiff. He was muttering something under his breath, which Mokuba couldn't really understand, but why was he wearing the specs? _They're non-prescription, aren't they? That's what nii-sama said. He doesn't need glasses… does he?_

Sliding under the window (Seto always left an exit open at all times- windows, trapdoors, anything in case of emergency)and stepping over the windowsill, around the laptop on the desk, and finally onto the floor, Mokuba cautiously approached the sleeping teenager and gingerly removed the spectacles off his nose. Holding them up to the light, they were bringing close details into even bigger focus, so they were definitely needed. It was trivial, admittedly, but he still felt he could have been told. _This means he's been wearing contact lenses…_ Mokuba thought.

Suddenly, a need to sleep overtook him. Mokuba, unlike his older brother, needed a certain amount of slumber so he could stay in his usual bouncy state- serious rattiness ensued if he didn't get enough shuteye. Carefully, he levered himself into the chair (it was huge, plenty of room for two), and settled himself in the nook between his brother's chest and knees. Two minutes later, he was asleep, curled into a tight ball, and unconsciously sucking his thumb- an old habit that had never really let go.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Three hours later, Seto woke with a start. A slight beep was emanating from the email programme, but there was nothing he could do about it for the moment, due to a blurry black, red and orange bundle on top of him (he was hoping it was Mokuba, but couldn't really tell), and the fact he didn't want to wake the bundle up, as it was breathing deeply, so he was assuming it was sleeping.

Gingerly wheeling the chair nearer to the desk, turning to one side, and pulling his arms out from the position they'd been in before, he fumbled for a bit before finding the offending pieces of eyewear in front of him. Putting them on with relief, he verified that it was in fact his younger brother, and not an intruder, sleeping in a ball on top of him, and moved his attention to the E-mail. It was in Cyrillic, so he had to feed it into a translator before he could read it properly.

_Dear Seto,_

_If you've got this message, then I'm sorry it's late. My PC is living on a prayer at the minute- it had an accident, and well, it's easy to say I've had to twist the wire strands together, and the chip thing's somewhat broken- but it was a clean break, so I think it'll hold for the next minute or so, or I hope it will, any way._

_I can't really see what I'm doing, so there may be some typos, and I'm not sure what script this is in. If in Cyrillic, I'm sorry! The screen's smashed, so I can't see what I'm doing, I only have the wiring and the keyboard._

_I'll be fine- bit battered, but bruises never hurt anyone that much. I think I'm in China somewhere, although I'm not entirely sure. Gozaburo's out seeing a business friend, so I'm doing a bodged 'repair as much as I can despite not knowing how' job, and I'm sure this won't get through to the other end of the line. All I know is that the power button is on, and I'm not electrocuted. _

_Oh, and thank you for the trench coat. It's very warm (I can understand why you wear them so much), and it fits perfectly. Also, I'm sorry about the bust up we had last weekend. I thought I'd better apologise, as it was me laughing at you. If you've got the world championship title, well done- bet no one can beat you._

_Say 'hi' to Mokuba for me, _

_Good bye,_

_Aurelie Chiasson_

Seto leaned back in his chair, and in moving, awoke his younger brother.

"Why didn't you tell me you needed glasses?" Mokuba's immediate reaction couldn't have been worse.

"Slipped my mind. Aurelie says 'hi', by the way." This was, admittedly, a lie. Seto was certain that Mokuba would have laughed about him needing glasses, and he felt he should pass on her final message, as he was sure that it wasn't an accident that one of his pride and joys and been destroyed. If she was fixing it while the 'step father' was out, that meant he'd probably broken it.

Mokuba however, had removed himself from the chair, and was now seated on the desk.

"Can Aurelie come over this weekend? You've got that new thingy you wanted to try, don't you?" Seto mentally frowned. How was he supposed to tell his younger brother that a friend wasn't coming back?

"Aurelie won't be able to get here any more, Mokuba. She's not in Domino."

Mokuba's face was one of pure shock. "What, you mean; no… she didn't go away, did she?"

Seto simply said, "Yes." He'd just realised what she could have done for Kaiba Corp. Her considerable language skills could have contributed to the translators he was producing, and also, she did a reasonable amount of internet admin, so he could have somehow drafted her into the tech team. Also, he'd never got the testing report for the translator either… Schweitzer. The small amount of potential in her (he couldn't really remember anything else she was good at), could have been used to great effect, if only he'd seen that before. Trust him to be wrapped up in work.

Meanwhile, Mokuba was trying not to sob. Gone…. No. This couldn't happen. Aurelie was going to introduce him to some decent net games that week. They'd decided over that Saturday, when they were out, that she'd show him the ropes, on a website… what was it? Pulling the laptop towards him, Mokuba hurriedly began to type the URL, registered, and was searching the site when his face fell.

"Nii- sama…. She's not there." He bit his lip, as Seto sighed.

"She wouldn't be, Mokuba. Her computer's broken, and she can't fix it properly. It was on the edge when she managed to send the message over. She may be quite good with games, and basic programming, but she's not good with hardware."

"Can you go and get her back, nii- sama? Surely she's not that far away… maybe in Tokyo?" Mokuba was pleading now.

"No, Mokuba. She's possibly in China, but she's apparently not too sure. I don't know how, she was on the plane and everything, but she doesn't know."

Mokuba began to sniff, and ran for the door, unlocked it, and slammed it behind him on the way to his bedroom. Seto put his head in his hands, only just realising that he was still wearing the spectacles. Pulling his contact lenses box out of his coat pocket, he put them in quickly, removed the glasses, and followed his younger brother up the stairs, and to the bedroom door.

Instead of doing what most people would, and going straight into the room, he went for a different approach. You didn't invade Mokuba's space when he was upset, out of personal experience. Sitting on the floor, back against the door, he leant against the surface, and began to hit his head repetitively. _You are an idiot, Seto Kaiba. You shouldn't have let her go, shouldn't have even talked to her in the first place, when she was the new kid. Should have left her alone, and not got involved, not have ended up thinking she'd be here forever to bring under the programming wing. Now, you've upset the only person you really care for, and he'll probably never forget it. Well done, moron of the month._ However, whilst running these thoughts through, the door opened abruptly, and he fell backwards, hitting his head hard on the floor. Looking down at him, Mokuba looked quite amused, whilst wiping his eyes on his sleeve.

"What were you doing?" It was this childlike innocence that made Mokuba the apple of Seto's eye.

"I thought that if I bashed out all my brain cells, I might feel better." Mokuba grinned at this comment, and as Seto got up, he looked embarrassed.

"Right. Mokuba, we need to do a search all over for our mystery fringy. Every website we've seen her on, search her username, everything. We're going to find her, and keep in contact, and if possible, get someone told about the abuse. She needs to get out of Gozaburo's 'care', if we can call it that, and then we can sponsor her to stay in Japan, and she can help with the business. I need a new techie anyway." Seto strode over to the computer, and sat down, pulling the keyboard closer to him, and typing rapidly.

"Cool! Nii- sama, recurring user name?" Mokuba pulled out a laptop from under his bed, and began to type slightly slower than the older Kaiba, but still managed to work at nearly the same speed.

"Yes. Use something fantasy orientated, though, that won't be suspicious. I don't want anything coming out of this, just pretend to be a complete newbie or very very experienced at this kind of thing. OK?"

"Yep!"

However, two hours later, and their search had yielded nothing. She was nowhere to be found on the internet, and so, Seto shut the net down.

"Mokuba, let's go downstairs. I need some ideas for a tournament. If we can't contact her on the internet, let's hold a worldwide event. Let's not go to her, she can come to us."

With that, he strode out of the room, and sighing, Mokuba followed him. It was fun living in a house stacked full of games and technology, but when your older brother was obsessed- he almost treated his computer like a god, it did get extreme, and the pressure was intense. He grinned widely, and clattered down the steps.

Unpredictable, exciting, imaginative… what he liked best about the world.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Translations-

Yarou- b- one of the less respectful prefixes, but apt.

XHTML- New Generation HyperText Markup Language- better than the usual HTML.

CSS- Cascading Style Shhet- used to set style of a webpage separately from HTML, so it's easier to edit.

Javascript- another programming language (I don't know it, so can't really give you a proper description. Used for games and the like though.)

Well, three month's work finished! Oh yes! Thanks again to reviewers; you don't know how much I appreciate them. Please note, I will not be pulling Aurelie from the depths again. She's gone, kasplut, dead, mort, yon, whatever language you put it in. That is, unless someone really did like her, didn't think she was that annoying, and asks very very nicely, but other wise- we can all say 'Au revoir!' now!

Thanks for reading,

Glastea


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